Used, Abused, and Sidelined

A demonstration of how the Declaration of Independence prepares us to tolerate and to resist, and how we might rely on it to create a different kind of political future.

Since it was published in 1776, the Declaration of Independence has been used to advocate for social justice and to maintain inequitable social hierarchies; it has served as a model for justifying revolutions in other nations and for the Confederacy’s secession from the US federal government. But as we approach its 250th anniversary, this book asks: Does the Declaration still matter?

In this volume, leading scholars explore how this remarkably pliable document has been used for progressive and regressive politics alike and track its impact on independence movements across the globe. The essays begin with the Declaration’s immediate reception and masculine style of prose and then move on to its central role in interpreting civic action between state and federal governments, most notably secession in the Antebellum era, questions of sovereignty between Indigenous nations in the United States, and the United States’ relationship with Latin America. The next section focuses on the ways the Declaration was called upon to urge imperative moral action, especially in terms of human rights, in the US Civil Rights Movement and the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, or, in contrast, how it was cast aside in the Syrian Revolution. The final section teases out the tension between the needs reflected in the original document and the needs of the contemporary political world.

Used, Abused, and Sidelined demonstrates how this foundational document prepares us to tolerate and to resist—and it points to how we might leverage the Declaration to create a different kind of political future.

A lively edited volume featuring top scholars, who thoroughly scrutinize the document’s history and ask whether the Declaration of Independence still matters, and how it can be used to inform political futures.

Global perspectives that consider the document vis a vis the US civil rights movement, the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, the Syrian Revolution, and the self-determination of Indigenous peoples.

2026 is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Volume editor Mary E. Stuckey is the author, editor, or co-editor of seventeen books and author or coauthor of roughly 100 essays and book chapters. She is the recipient of the NCA Distinguished Scholar Award, the Roderick P. Hart Outstanding Book Award, and the Marie Hochmuth Nichols Award, among others.

Mary E. Stuckey is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University. Her most recent books are For the Enjoyment of the People: The Creation of National Identity in American Public Lands and Deplorable: The Worst Presidential Campaigns from Jefferson to Trump, the latter published by Penn State University Press.

Mary E. Stuckey is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University. Her most recent books are For the Enjoyment of the People: The Creation of National Identity in American Public Lands and Deplorable: The Worst Presidential Campaigns from Jefferson to Trump, the latter published by Penn State University Press.